As I’ve been diving deeper into the world of smart home automation, I’ve encountered a fascinating challenge that many of us might face. I wanted to create a system where my roller shutters could be controlled both manually and automatically, but without any overlap or interference between the two methods. This journey led me to explore some intricate details of rule-based automation and how manual interventions can sometimes collide with automated processes.Initially, my approach was to set up two separate switches—one for manual control and another for automatic rules. The idea was that when the roller shutters were manually operated, the automatic rules would temporarily pause, and vice versa. However, as I quickly discovered, this wasn’t as straightforward as it seemed. The issue arose because the automatic switch’s state changes weren’t propagating fast enough to the manual switch, leading to situations where the manual control wasn’t aware that the automatic system had already kicked in.This led me down a rabbit hole of debugging and experimenting with different configurations. I realized that the delay in state propagation was causing the manual switch to act as if the automatic system was still inactive, even when it had already started. To address this, I tried introducing a timer to delay the manual check, but this felt like a workaround rather than a proper solution.After some research and trial and error, I stumbled upon a more elegant solution. Instead of relying solely on state propagation, I incorporated a feedback mechanism where both the manual and automatic systems could communicate their states more efficiently. This involved setting up a system where each action—whether manual or automatic—would explicitly update a shared status variable, ensuring that all components were always in sync.The result was a much smoother integration between manual and automatic controls. Now, when I manually operate the roller shutters, the system immediately recognizes this and adjusts the automatic rules accordingly, and vice versa. This not only eliminated the confusion between the two systems but also made the entire setup more reliable and user-friendly.Reflecting on this experience, I’ve learned the importance of clear communication between different components in a smart home system. It’s not just about setting up rules but ensuring that every part of the system can effectively share its state and respond to changes in real-time. This lesson has been invaluable as I continue to expand and refine my smart home setup, and I’m excited to apply this knowledge to other projects in the future.